I thought all Volvos were galvanized.

If you changed the word 'stainless' to 'solid' it would be closer to truth.

Define "bad company"

People who openly criticize Valve have a strange tendency to die in horrible "accidents", so I guess people have just learned to keep their true opinion to themselves.

Geralt of Volvo, -1

I think it's because Steam is a mainstream platform, DRM is the main problem with Steam and there store.
But in terms of games they have made they make great games for the most part like Portal and Half life despite the fact they make games so little.

Because the stupid don't care where they shop ?...

I think Valve has a strong reputation because they have a well engineered suit of products (hearsay, since I've never used it, but I don't have a hard time believing it).

The societal weakness of their business model will only be exposed either when they go under or at least when their finances have degraded enough that they are no longer able to properly maintain their online services.

Its like that otherwise great pair of pants with a weak lining between the legs. Its great, right up to the point where you bend over to pick up something in front of a crowd and it rips, exposing your choice of underwear to amused onlookers.

Hopefully remembering to actually wear some underwear the day that happens...

It does? First thing I hear of that.

Oh! It's one of those Geralt/Irenicus threads. So the opening question doesn't have to make sense.

Valve is like the Amazon of PC gaming space. People criticize them all the time for various faults, but for a lot of people it's the de facto way of playing PC games, so at best they just grit their teeth and try to ignore/tolerate the problems.

But no, Valve does not have 'stainless reputation'. For the general PC gaming public they're just too big to boycott without severely inconveniencing themselves. At the end of the day they just want to play their games in peace.

Years of having a monopoly on the digital storefront space made them like Google or Microsoft. While people have problems with there service and they have a track record of ignoring there customers they are just so big that even the critics still use there service as they ant imagine going anywhere else.

Convenience / ease of use / useful features

butt remember 2003...

While Valve are responsible for Steam, Steam isn't responsible for Valve.

It's a bit like walking and chewing gum at the same time.

While I don't like Steam, I fully acknowledge how successful Valve have been, and in my mind at least, I separate the games Valve have made, from the Steam store ... even though that's the only place you can buy them. That said, a fair few of Valve's games are what some call DRM-Free Lite ... can run without the Steam client.

We now live in a world where many don't care about owning things all that much. I'm not one of those, but I understand that mentality. Unlike when I was growing up, there is a glut of things available now, that seems never-ending and with something new around every corner. It is quite possible to continue forward without looking back, especially if life is busy. But we will see (me probably not) if those not caring now, will care more when they get older and nostalgia kicks in, and they can't access something they would dearly love to.

But then .... who knows what the future of gaming will be.